The Trump Card
by extravagant-peasant
Summary: Love distorts everything. It disregards time and differences. It grows even amidst turmoil and war. And to those unlucky enough to know, it turns immortality a curse. Athrun x Cagalli
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed.

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When immortal life grew stale, gods would come down to earth to enjoy the pleasure mortal life had to offer. Mortals caused a spread of nostalgia deep within their weary souls. And they would be reminded of feelings from a time when everyday seemed to offer something new.

After the sun god dictates the end of the day, and the goddess of the moon declares it evening, gods from Olympus would flock down to the mortal realm and intoxicate themselves with women and wine.

But even though gods may have already deemed life meaningless, it still holds the strongest trump card yet, love.

Given the circumstances it is not a wonder that sometimes gods fall for humans and even less of a wonder that humans fall for gods. But feelings shared between the immortal and the mortal have proved only to lead into chaos and turmoil for you see only in life can someone love and come death love would leave only suffering. Two lovers separated by death, one spared from the pain of loss the other doomed to an eternity of mourning.

...

Illuminated by the moonlight, the woman looked truly beautiful. Her long hair, pale blond under the glow of the moon, was toyed by the blowing breeze. Her lips were curved into a content smile. Her eyes reflected the full moon, which she was tranquilly gazing-up at. It was a scene which the god never forgot.

This was of the woman whose existence captured the interest of an otherwise indifferent god. She had drawn him in the first time she had glared at him with her penetrating gaze.

Intrigued, the god would often pay special yet hidden attention to her. Her every movement marked her very different from any other woman he has ever encountered. She had a certain flare about her, it emitted a sense of strength and strong will, unique only to her.

But of course fate would sometimes help them along, making them meet from time to time. This was how things bloomed between them. Those little moments they met along the streets or the temple gardens were enough to turn the god's feeling of curiosity into something deeper, even deeper than friendship.

Before long, feelings muffled by both were revealed, thus opened their days of sheer happiness. Everything seemed to live under a new light even for the god. For a time immortality seemed so short.

But death lurked in the shadow of their happiness, for you see the god had made more than mortal women fall in love with him, and one of those who were immortal schemed with the abstract god of death.

And thus one day her mortality professed itself, though she fought hard against it. Death was strong. She died alone and never having to see her god one last time.

Oh! But the god of course found out. And his grief splattered with rage could not be doused. He pursued the goddess, his vision red. But he could not give her death.

He was cold like ice. He froze inside of him the memories of what was, what could've been, so it would never melt away and disappear.

His endless future was now a frozen past.

* * *

...

Chapter 1: First Meeting

...

An abrupt silence ruled the sky. The battle between two mobile suits was punctuated by a blinding explosion, and then the deafening silence followed. Scraps of metal were thrown off in different directions, they scattered among the small islands littering the sea.

Among the debris was the pilot of Aegis, still strapped to his cockpit. Blood flowed from his head which was still covered by a helmet. Cuts covered his body revealing fresh wounds sustained from the explosion. He should be dead by now, his body should've been incinerated along with the rest of Aegis but of course he was still alive, death was impossible for him.

He was a god, immortal but not impenetrable. He felt the pain, the stings and aches. Ignoring the protests his body made when he moved, he unstrapped himself from the cockpit, and he climbed down from it and fell on the grainy sand hissing with pain. He laid there with his back on the ground and even though fighting against it, unconsciousness befell him.

...

Uniformed men surrounded the unconscious body. One was squatting down checking his pulse, to find that indeed he was alive.

"Is it Kira?" asked an urgent voice pushing her way through the arch of men surrounding the unconscious body. "Kira?" the voice asked tentatively peering at the helmet which hid the pilot's sleeping face.

The uniformed man, who was squatting down carefully took off the helmet. The newcomer's face fell, he was not who she was looking for. She regained her composure, hiding the heavy disappointment and strong worry which was making a dark mix in her, and ordered for this man to be treated.

"We'll question him when he's conscious" said she for she knew he made the man she was looking for disappear.

...

It was dark inside the room, except for the light shining through the window. A pair of emerald eyes scanned from where he laid the metal walls of his small room. He was in a battleship, an enemy battle ship, he thought spying the Orb emblem on one of the walls. He sat up only to feel a jolt of pain from his head which, he now realized, was neatly bandaged.

"You're awake," a voice said somewhere in the darkness. "Mr. Zala"

He strained his eyes to search for the speaker, and he found there sitting in a dark corner of the room her silhouette. He stared at the figure unfazed. The figure moved closer and came into the light. His eyes widened in surprise.

Amber eyes were glaring at him, flamed with the same anger he had seen so long ago, when he first gazed at them. The orbs were the same, filled with liquid gold, intense and unwavering. He was again captivated and could not look away.

Suddenly the past didn't need to be frozen anymore.

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I'll try to update soon to compensate for the short first chapter. Thank-you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

It's short I tell you.

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Athrun knew it wasn't a dream, the strength behind those eyes was a mere blur within his memories, that even his dreams could never have her stare at him so. He had a faint recollection of her face, enough to recognize her. His lips moved to say her name, but it was gone too, all those years of living had scraped away everything. Only now did he realize that all he had left of her was her lingering essence.

He was silent. The darkness shielded his face, hiding the look of torment he did not know had formed from his features. But it wouldn't have had mattered if Cagalli had seen his face, she was oblivious to his inner struggles. She pointed the gun steadily at him, her finger poised over the trigger. "You brought down Strike," the words came through gritted teeth.

Blind rage was empowering her. That moment pulling the trigger seemed so easy, so simple, so right. To kill because someone was killed, she had sworn to never commit that mistake. But now, yes but now, that promise seemed so powerless. It felt like a feeble tug keeping her from being swept away by the currents of vengeful emotions. Looking at this stranger alive felt like a great injustice. Who was he to live when Kira...

"Kira is dead," she said as if not convinced of her own words "because of you. Only because of someone like you."

Death seemed so true to them. It was the absolute end. It's what makes them so mortal. _She_ was a mortal. His mind had whispered the bitter reminder, it was the truth behind the separation and this was no reunion. Death is irreversible. _She_ was long dead, so much so that not even her corpse can be found on this war torn land. A bitter chuckle seemed to rise from somewhere in his chest and he almost laughed, laughed at himself for letting his thoughts run along a hopefull path so easily, even for just a second.

He had begun to stare at her anew with almost hysteric fascination, making out her features despite the scant light. The resemblance was uncanny, even her eyes were the same. Always sincere whatever emotions they might display. Rage being the earliest he had seen in those amber eyes, then and now.

"Kira isn't dead" he said plainly. He saw her swell as if ready to blow at his words, because they felt like an insult. "Isn't that what you want to really hear?"

She couldn't deny it. For a moment she had nothing to say. Under those conditions, with that kind of explosion she couldn't let herself hope for his survival. Yet she couldn't accept either that he was dead. "Well, he's gone" she said her voice losing some of its edge "And instead we find you"

She seemed lost. There was a struggle in herself. A part of her was preparing to mourn for his death and the other hoping for him to be alive. It was no doubt a torment, blanketed with anger. He raised his arm unsure of what to do. If she had been her he would've collected her already in his arms, and she would've resisted but relented in the end. He let his arm fall uselessly beside him, because she wasn't her.

"Me being alive should prove that the fight isn't as fatal as you think" he said instead. He allowed himself to say these words, hoping they were of some comfort.

When everyone else had no hope to give her it was ironic that this man would even try. That Cagalli would find herself almost believing him was absurd, but she looked at him sternly before lowering her gun, because the breadth of sincerity in his voice reminded her that Athrun Zala was Kira's friend, but mostly because it was true that he had said the words she had wanted to hear with so much more conviction than she could muster.

"Be glad I'm keeping it that way for now" she said as she turned for the door.

* * *

Kira watched the waves lap at his bare feet. His suit was badly torn. His body too was scratched and bruised. It hurt to move, but he had enough strength to sit up.

It must've been a day since the fight. He smiled. Athrun was a formidable opponent despite being as much of a pacifist as he was. But then again, for them to get involved in the war was already a very strange fact to behold.

He had joined the Earth Alliance for the same reason Athrun had joined Zaft, to stop this war somehow from within the two imposing forces. Humans from generation to generation, always seem to find a reason to wage war. These disputes bewildered them. Thousands of precious lives sacrificed, some even wasted. They had seen wars start and wars end, every time victory never seemed at all worth it.

However, this battle had been a slight deviation from the plan. When they had flipped the coin to decide the matter of which nations to side with, destiny seemed to have forgotten its job. Kira finds himself playing fate, and it was a painful job, he thought examining a wound.

Still he was at odds. Was it a mistake to let them meet? He looked skyward, hoping that the coin toss wasn't actually in Athrun's favor.

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The progress is very slow, I know. But I just wanted to get it updated just so the idea won't waste away. I'll very likely edit it.


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